True Life: Blogging at Home with Kids

I like blogging at home when my kids are around as much I would like working at an office with a coworker constantly trying to draw on me. It's not particularly easy to do and often leads to anxiety, irritation, and bursts of madness. In the very beginning of L & B, I had this idea that I should write and take pictures whenever the kids were napping or late at night. Why not even wake up at 6:00 AM to write a thoughtful post before the baby wakes up???? (Never happened). Every time I was too tired or didn't feel like writing, it felt like a failure on my part. A better blogger would've been able to muster up the energy, I thought. Thankfully, I don't have that mentality anymore for many reasons and I hope I never go back.

Having daycare and time alone without both of my sweet, adorable baby girls is extremely important to me. When they're both away at daycare a couple times a week (the older one goes more than the younger), that's when I try to go to a coffee shop and focus on some blog work. That means I don't usually post more than once, maybe twice a week. If my girls are home for a few weeks without daycare or babysitting help, I won't blog during that time. That also means that I do much less blog work late at night or when I'm home with the kids, even during nap time. I cannot express how much these boundaries surrounding blog work and personal time have increased my sense of well being.

I think it would be helpful for the blogging community to talk more about how hard (read: impossible) it is to blog without boundaries and to maintain sanity at the same time. Having these overwhelming goals where you're posting at 3 AM during your baby's nighttime feeding (no doubt it's a post on Five Ways to Get More Rest) isn't sustainable. Life is already challenging as it is. Earlier this week my oldest daughter tried to "tap" her younger sister on the head with a large broom and this morning she rubbed a highly pigmented mascara wand all over my tights right before we needed to leave the apartment. Thankfully today, I noticed her putting a bowl of soup into one of our kitchen cupboards before she was able to leave it there for who knows how long. With all of this going on, I just don't see myself writing a post on "Living a Wonderful Life" with my right hand while catching a broom with my left.

If you're a blogger or a blog-reader, do you agree that there are a lot of expectations or pressure to post perfectly (or to post perfectly on instagram, etc.) in order to feel successful? Or maybe you have totally different thoughts on the subject? I'd love to hear your opinions!